Moshi Monsters Recurring billing.

ste3en

Hi, I was wondering does anyone know what the regulations are on storing legacy financial information?

We signed up for a months membership for my child on the website Moshimonsters.com and first of all they do not make it obvious that it is recurring billing and secondly how to opt out of it.

Apparently you have to go back in after you have signed up and cancel the membership, by which time you are faced with a whole list of psychological blackmail about what will happen to your monster when you cancel, not to mention follow up emails of how your virtual pet is missing you *parent advisory - cancel when your child is not around.

Anyway exactly one month later they must have tried to debit the monthly fee from our pre paid credit card and because there wasn't the amount on there it must have failed so they managed to debit the money from a previous debit card we used to purchase a membership for the service a long time ago.

This means they store all your previous financial records as legacy information. Now from my understanding the basis of the contract was formed on the most recent card, however I am wondering as it is the same member name is this how they get around it?

It's also worth mentioning that most institutions give you the access to your financial information so you can edit and delete what details they have of you on file and update your credit card information. Moshi Monsters allow you no such access presumably under the guise of the fact that it is a site for children etc.

Any one aware of the European financial regulatory laws and whether or not these have been broken?

Buzby

Not what you are hoping for. RIPA and the money laundering regulations have now made it compulsory for these firms to retain customer date for possible evidential purposes, so they have to remain compliant.

That said, it is of course beneficial to them to to ensure they retain all the information they can to ensure their ability to charge remains unchallenged. This extends to even retaining 'old' customer data (cc numbers, phone and addess details) for possible reuse.

The business model is no different from that used by the much criticised 'mobile ringtone industry'. How you could have missed this was an ongoing commitment eludes me, as they are very clear in their terms that it is not a one-off purchase.

ste3en

I didn't miss this was an ongoing commitment, I cancelled the membership just not in time by a matter of hours, which was admittedly my mistake.

However I wasn't signing up to a 12 month contract I paid for a months service and don't expect that to become a utility unless I specify it to be otherwise I would have picked one of their 6 month or 12 month options.

They do however have sneaky ways to force a hesitation in cancelling the membership by detailing all the things your child will lose supposedly forever when cancelling and then confirming that you are definitely sure you wish to cancel re the outlined reasons they state, however only when you do confirm cancelling the membership do they announce that all settings will be frozen in time until you re activate your membership. Hence you don't actually lose anything your child has worked to earn except current access to certain parts of the site.

I also don't appreciate the emails informing me the monster is so lonely or sick or missing my child with images of monsters crying etc.

Regarding legacy billing if you wish to continue with recurring billing you a should at least have the option to manage wich accounts payment is taken from like you would if you were paying for an ongoing service like hosting etc.

redpete

ste3en wrote: »

I also don't appreciate the emails informing me the monster is so lonely or sick or missing my child with images of monsters crying etc.

Is it you or your child that is getting these emails? If the latter then I would say it is unacceptable and I would expect an opt-out option. If the former then I'm sure you are able to harden yourself against the emotional tug (of an electronic make-believe pet!).

jonesMUFCforever

Just cancel the recurring payment with your card.

DevCoder

I signed up for Moshi Monsters (for my DD) and have since cancelled, the warning is not psychological blackmail at all, it just warns you that the effort (and some children put a lot of time and effort into online Moshi) you have put in will be lost with no method to retrieve.

As mentioned, just cancel the recurring authority and follow the procedure within the time frame specified this time.